Fly on your own
by chloemcg
Summary: Spoliers for the third movie. Toothless is left watching his brood of eggs while his mate went away to get some food, but what happens when the Night fury finds himself in a difficult situation? And what happens when it's time for the babies to fly? Would they be ready? Could Toothless and his mate let their babies spread their wings and soar?
1. The hatching

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, the characters for HTTYD belong to Cressida cowell, Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders and Dreamworks. I own nothing!**

**Fly on your own**

* * *

The crystallised terrain glinted beneath the silvery moonlight as everything was serene and absolutely perfect as the dragons thrived in their new environment.

It had all been supremely peaceful ever since the former dragons of Berk had moved into the Hidden world and, while it was a bit overcrowded at first and they had to get used to feeding themselves, they had actually settled in pretty well. It was also thanks to Toothless, a Night fury, whom had ascended and become king of the dragons while his beloved mate —the Light fury— had become his queen. The two were very attentive and took their roles as leaders seriously, even though they were the last of their kind, and even managed to create a peaceful utopia.

The pair ruled fairly and had each become a singular unit that had garnered the respect of the dragon race and Toothless and his mate knew how to fairly run an entire land themselves, together.

Only thing was that their singular unit was about to triple.

Yes.

Toothless and his mate were about to become a family.

The two had settled down into one of the deeper catacombs which had been made into a nesting area for most of the expecting females and/or the nursery for the females to raise their small whelps until they were ready to fly independently. Needless to say, the female Light fury had chosen to nest further towards the back of the cave and the nest was made out of there was illuminant crystals, quarts and obsidian —instead of any natural soft material such as grass or hay.

It was usually Toothless' job to go out to catch some fish but, since he wanted to give his mate some freedom, he decided to watch over the eggs.

He was currently laying down on the nest of crystals with his tail coiled around himself. His wings folded themselves against his back and he couldn't resist the urge to tilt his head back slightly, open his mouth as wide as it could go and exhume a large yawn whilst stretching his front claws. Whether it was out of boredom or exhaustion, not even he knew. The Male Night fury just felt really bored since it had been awhile since he had left the cave catacombs to keep his special bundles nice and warm. His bright emerald green eyes glanced down and saw the three little eggs that were nestled by his side, being incubated by his body heat.

The egg on the right was dark black with hints of white, the middle egg was pure white with a single black splotch on its shell, and the egg on the left was pitch black with greyish-white on the top.

The precious trio of eggs.

Toothless nor his mate were no longer the last of their kind.

The bloodline of the nightfuries dragon species was going to continue.

Where was his mate?

Well, since the Light fury had been keeping watch over the precious brood and simply sat in the caverns without doing much for four months, she had started to get a bit stir crazy and had decided to switch roles with the ebony-scaled male; she fly away to catch the fish supper while he stayed behind to keep watch over the eggs. Needless to say, she was very reluctant to leave the eggs when they were supposed to start hatching any day now but, at the same time, she knew that she needed to flex her wings since she hadn't used them much and couldn't stand to be cooped up for much longer.

Toothless wasn't too worried because he was sure that the eggs weren't supposed to hatch for another while or so and he figured that they would wait for their mother to return.

...Right?

The eggs all were nicely nestled together and seemed ok.

Toothless settled down and lay down on his stomach as he observed the three eggs which were now nestled at his side, his olive green eyes were soft and gentle as he was simply left alone with his thoughts. He had coiled his tail around the bundles and couldn't help but feel reminiscent of his human partner, Hiccup; how was he doing? How was his mate, Astrid, doing? Had they finally decided to become one by mating? He couldn't help but wonder what had happened during all these years.

Since he could never quite understand how humans became attracted to each other, he

He also had to wonder if...Hiccup, too, was going to have whelps of his very own too?

He lowered his head and closed his eyes, giving his head a single shake, and he really wished he would have been able to meet them and personally get to know them —it was a regretful truth and he couldn't help but feel a bit saddened about it. He hoped Hiccup wasn't missing him too much...yet, at the same time, he knew that the young human was really strong and had convinced him that he would be just before he had left to take the other dragons of Berk to the Hidden world.

Maybe, perhaps when the other dragons were ready and humanity was prepared, they could return and rule the skies once more...

Toothless kept pondering, until his eyes snapped open when he heard a faint cracking sound.

It couldn't be...could it? He silently prayed it the source of the noise wasn't what he was thinking of and he turned his head quickly and looked down to see whether he was correct. His stomach dropped and he was shocked to the core to find that one of the eggs had a small airline crack across the shell.

His olive green eyes widened in panic as the realisation hit him like a bolt of lightning.

The eggs were hatching.

The eggs were hatching!

THE EGGS WERE HATCHING!

The egg that was hatching was the middle one, the white one with the black splotch emblazoned upon the shell. It trembled and shook a little bit as a crack appeared and seemed to be growing bigger and bigger by the second. Toothless reared back, eyes wide, and climbed to stand on all fours as he stared at the eggs with his mind racing and going a million miles an hour. He could hardly think rationally and he let out a growly whimper of a noise and cast his gaze momentarily out towards the cavern entrance, he hoped that his mate would return soon...

The middle egg kept shaking and the whelp inside was steadily chipping away.

It wasn't too much longer until the top of the egg came off and a tiny Light fury head popped out.

The teeny hatchling mewled softly, eyes still closed as it squirmed around in an attempt to free itself from the shell that had previously been its prison. The newborn was covered in sticky fluid and she shivered due to the cold reaching her pale and rather transparent scales. She sniffled softly, trying to take her first few breaths of fresh oxygen, yet the sticky amniotic fluid and mucus in her nostrils made that a bit difficult.

Toothless watched with unease.

He had dealt with baby dragon whelps before but dealing with his own offspring was a different matter entirely...!

He wanted nothing more than to fly off and get his mate to see their new babies but he was stopped when he realised that he couldn't leave the whelps alone to fend for themselves, but the male Night fury also hadn't the slightest clue as to how to handle this since neither him nor his Light fury queen had expected them to start hatching while the latter had gone.

He knew that his mate wouldn't be happy if he had left them alone.

The baby, wanting to get closer to the adult Night fury, fell forward clumsily and ended up landing on her tummy, causing a "splat" sound thanks to the fluid she was covered in —the liquid dripped down her body. She flapped her tiny wings to get rid of the excess fluid covering her from head-to-toe and she kept trying to stand up by herself, but only ended up slipping around.

She let out a quiet growl of a whimper.

Toothless' heart sunk a bit and he felt a bit of sympathy for the whelp, he couldn't leave his daughter like that.

He walked back over towards the tiny whelp and the other two eggs, emerald green eyes assumed this kind and caring glimmer that appeared to just give anyone warmth just by staring deep into them, and he craned his head to see if the little one was okay. She seemed alright whilst she struggled a bit as she shook off the eggshell that remained glued to her and trotted unsteadily towards the much older Night fury with blue/greenish eyes overflowing with adoration.

She started to lean up and rub his head right up against her father's chest affectionately.

The adult Night fury responded to the hatchling's display by poking his long forked tongue out at her and then proceeding to reward her with a few licks to try and clean her up. The baby light fury relished in the feeling of being licked clean by the older dragon and she purred delightedly, clumsily climbing up and attempting to balance on her haunches as she sat up for the first time.

It was once she was clean that the whelp was a bit happier.

Now, in a better light, Toothless was able to study this new life much better.

It was a white Light fury, like it's mother, and she had some pitch black areas such as her little ears as well as her spines and the tip of her tail. Other then those attributes this little one looked just like her mother and she couldn't have been more perfect to him.

The newly-hatched dragon purred contentedly and leaned upwards before she clumsily poked out her own forked tongue, letting it loll out of his mouth due to how unpracticed she was in controlling it, in a failed attempt to lick her father in return —Toothless, filled with nothing but love for his new hatchling as he used his snout to nuzzle the whelp, causing her to nuzzle him right back, and the little baby dragon closed her big teal eyes and continued to rest her little head against her father's chest.

Toothless pressed his snout against his daughter's teeny snout and purred softly in a comforting manner. He wrapped both his front claws around his whelp and hugged her delicately as he flapped his wings reflexively.

Even though this was a new bond, this bond between father and child had already become unbreakable.

The moment was slightly spoiled when Toothless perked his head up to the sound of flapping wings —he gazed out towards the entrance when he saw a familiar pair of sapphire blue eyes belonging to a familiar figure. He watched as his mate landed on the ground with an expertly-executed swoop and dive and she hardly wasted time in hastening towards her mate to look down at her offspring.

Toothless growled softly in confusion as he watched his slender, beautiful and gentle-eyed mate nuzzled him lovingly.

The Light fury was quick to rush straight to the hatchling and the other two eggs that were also starting to grow cracks upon both of their eggshells. She had a look of excitement as she dashed straight over towards them with her bright blue eyes scanning them intensely as she awaited for the other eggs to start hatching, just like the middle one whom just curled up into a ball to sleep by Toothless' side and seemed to sleep soundly.

The queen of the dragons purred delightedly as she saw the lovely little hatchling.

It was another hour until both of the other two eggs had hatched as well and a pair of males popped their own heads out of their respective eggs just like their sister before them, but they seemed to take more after Toothless than their mother.

One of the males had dark scales, like Toothless, but had pale blue eyes and had a white nose, white ears, white claws and a white underbelly and chin. The other male had a white belly, white head bumps and white spikes trailing down his back and was otherwise completely black, and he had bright green eyes. The two brothers were noticeably bigger than their sister, in spite of them being born after her, and seemed just a tad stronger than she did.

Both mewed softly as they squirmed in their newly-broken egg remnants and tried to literally break out of their shells while their bodies were slathered with that same egg liquid.

The Light fury ended up cleaning both males with her own tongue and, it was when they had been cleaned up, she decided to start feeding them their first meal.

The only female whelp of the triplets opened her eyes a little bit as she was softly nudged by Toothless towards her brother's so they could be fed. The three baby Nightlight furies mewed and squeaked in anticipation as they waited for their mother to regurgitated some fish into their mouthes. The Light fury happily nuzzled all three of her newly-born whelps lovingly, the female adult kept nuzzling for a few moments until the babies all opened their mouthes and lowered her head and watched as the precious hatchlings eagerly chirped for food.

The motherly Light fury crooned to the babies in a soft growl as she regurgitated the fish she caught earlier into each gummy mouth belonging to her precious hatchlings, pushing the pulpy mass of chewed up fish out of her mouth with her tongue and getting the whelps fed as they got an equal amount. The Nightlight fury triplets happily chewed their very first meals and made adorable little noises as they swallowed the gross mush.

The babies were clearly content after having been fed for the first time in their lives.

Toothless went over and sat down next to his dear queen and made a sweet sound as he gave her forehead a tender lick before nuzzling her and pressing his head into the crook of her neck whilst wrapping one of his wings around her. He could feel her throat vibrate as she purred lovingly and watched as her mate's tail coiled around them both, eyes momentarily looking at the mechanical winged-tail fin. She could remember when she first met him an how he was unable to fly properly because a part of his tail had been severed, making it near impossible.

Then his human helped make him his new tail and now he could fly independently. She never had been very fond of humans, but she would always accept that human that helped her mate. He did help both her and him, after all. She could tell that her king missed his human sometimes but she could also see that he didn't regret leaving to save his kind...and leaving to keep her safe.

The king and queen dragons were brought out of their romantic reverie after noticing that their babies had curled up into a small cluster on the ground and had fallen asleep in a pile.

The two proud dragon parents purred happily as the Light fury got to her feet and proceeded to go over to the ball of whelp and pick them up by the scaly scruff of their necks and then gently lower them down in the crystallised nest. The babies squirmed a bit in their sleep but didn't awaken and just curled into another ball to resume their comfortable slumber.

Toothless proudly brayed as he looked from his mate to his offspring, watching as the former laid down alongside her hatchlings and licking them gently whilst they slept.

The male Night fury didn't even notice that, out of the corner of his eye, Cloud Jumper, Storm Fly, Hook Fang, Barf and Belch and even Meat Lug had snuck in to have a look at the new heirs; the group of dragons also missed their riders at times but they also respected Toothless as their former alpha and current king and knew that they were staying here because they needed to be safe. They, like Toothless, sincerely hoped they would see their riders again someday.

Even though they were Toothless' subjects they were still his friends and wanted to help their alpha.

Cloud Jumper acted sort of as a general or second in command and simply growled snappily at the group since he never wanted to disturb their King and his mate. He just wanted to have a nap somewhere peaceful where he wouldn't be disturbed, although not even he could deny that the most hardened of dragons would not find this moment to be a marvel to watch.

Toothless, unaware of the other Berkian dragons eavesdropping, just purred and let out a soft, proud roar as he extended his wings and flapped them merrily. He was clearly overjoyed about this. He had two sons and a daughter and a loving mate.

No longer was he the last of his kind.

He had a family and he was going to do everything to protect them to the best of his ability.

* * *

**A/N: Happy (early) Valentine's Day! Heres the end of my first HTTYD fic. I watched the third movie during the weekend and loved it a whole heap, especially the ending, even if it was bittersweet. I couldnt not write a fic after such a grand finale.**

**I hope you guys like it.**

-**Chloemcg**


	2. Fly on your own

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, the characters for HTTYD belong to Cressida cowell, Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders and Dreamworks. I own nothing!**

**Fly on your own**

* * *

_Three months later..._

The waterfalls crashed and the fog was thick as a familiar family of dragons perched themselves on some rock pillars that stuck out of the ocean. It was still vastly different from the Hidden world where the dragons now resided but there was no comparing to the fresh, open outside world with its vast oceans and grand blue skies. Though many of the dragons had ventured across these lands once, the dragons now had a slight caution since they knew that they couldn't be discovered.

However, to quench their thirst and desire to see the world outside the hidden world, Toothless and his mate decided to take their whelps on a special outing.

The family of black and white dragons all just basked as they got ready for a big moment.

Toothless had a feeling that the former dragons of Berk such as Stormfly, Hookfang and Cloudjumper would try to follow him and his family. He knew that they would probably try and lend him moral support and probably wanted to see their respective riders once again...however he knew he couldn't risk that. He could sympathise that they simply wished to reunite with their partners but it would have put them at risk if they were re-discovered before their time.

It was enough that he had sent Stormfly out on a scouting mission and they were out of the protected area of the Hidden world, he didn't need anymore hassle.

Toothless stretched his slender body out upon the rocky formation, wings flexed outwards and green eyes cast watchingly out on the horizon with his long, black ears erect and his back arched. He nodded in self-confirmation as he gave a satisfied snort through his nostrils and then proceeded to turn to face his mate and three whelps.

The Light fury lay down on her rocky perch beside Toothless whilst she observed the three babies carefully yet lovingly, sapphire blue eyes large and caring as she swished her tail a bit in an absentminded fashion.

She purred in what sounded strikingly similar fashion to a coo.

The female of the three whelps (the light fury with the teal eyes, black tail, spines and ears) pounced on one of her brothers (the night fury with the blue eyes, white nose, paws, chin and tummy) and knocked him off of his fours, forcing him on his back to expose his tummy while the younger brother (the night fury with the green eyes, dark scales, white tummy, white top nubs and white spines) was standing next to them but had gotten toppled over when the youngsters started with their horseplay.

The three had grown since they'd hatched but were still quite small.

Toothless smiled down at his brood as he eyed them, a serious glint shimmering in his lime green eyes. There was a reason he and his mate had brought them to the surface; the whelps had started walking about a week after they'd hatched, but now it was time for them to put their tiny wings to use...

It was time for them to learn how to fly.

The Male Night fury could vividly recall a time whence he had free reign of the skies, back before he had met his dearest friend, Hiccup, and even back before he had even lost one of his tail fins and was rendered "flightless". He had taught himself how to fly through the treacherous heavens, he taught himself how to survive those dark and stormy nights, as well as the occasional hurricanes and cyclone —he could even recall when he, himself, was an orphaned whelp and had even glided through the air for the very first time. He knew how these skies would be the best way for his young to learn how to trust the wings they were born with.

The ebony-scaled adult Male then used his own eyes to point towards the open air once more.

The three-month-old triplets chirped as they peered up at their father, cocking their small heads in confusion.

Toothless crooned softly, his throat eliciting a soft purring growl of a sound, as he used his left wing to point upwards and then he flapped both of his wings to make more of an emphasis. He knew he had to make this clear so they would understand that it was time for them to learn to use their wings. He twitched both tail fins (artifical prosthetic fin and original fin) and flapped them as well to get them ready for the flight he was about to take.

The babies seemed to realise what was about to happen.

Toothless and his mate pulled on their biggest attempts at smiles and proceeded to bend down and grab their whelps into their mouthes by the scruffs of their necks, Toothless holding the female whilst his mate held the two males, and flapped their wings before they took to the air without any trouble whatsoever.

The baby dragons trilled and squirmed in Toothless' and the Light fury's mouthes and were obviously excited about the thought of flying on their own for the first time. Toothless snuffed sternly at the whelps, causing them to stop their squirming and had jerked themselves into silence. He needed his brood to know that this was serious and they needed to be calm.

The three Nightlight furies cooed and looked guilty and eyed their parents apologetically.

The Light fury mother purred in a forgiving manner, although there was a hint of sternness in her sapphire blue eyes. Even though she loved her hatchlings she never could tolerate her babies misbehaving and had taken to being quite a strict dragon mother, but she never forgot to let her whelps know how much she cared.

Now, when it came to training dragon whelps how to fly independently, the preferred method was to drop them and watch them fly whilst struggling yet it wasn't ideal since the trio were special and Toothless was afraid about what would happen to his daughter and sons. He glanced down thoughtfully with worry etched upon his face, casting a glance to the ocean down below.

What would happen if they fell?

What if they weren't ready...?

As he felt his confidence falter, he kept flying.

But Toothless' eyes widened when he felt a small amount of pressure on his back and he glanced across and noticed that his mate had placed one of her outstretched wings on top of his back and smiled, in spite of the two whelps hanging from her mouth, in a reassuring manner.

He felt a bit of his confidence return then.

He just needed to trust that his whelps would be ok.

This was how all dragons learned how to fly and he needed to trust that.

Toothless and his mate looked each other in the eye and nodded at each other, opened their mouthes and the dragon whelps started to fall towards the sea below. He felt a pang of panic hit him right in the heart as he watched his whelps fall towards the ocean and he felt every instinct scream at him to dive down and save them...but he also knew that this was the dragon way of things and he couldn't interfere.

The baby Nightlight furies fell farther and farther down until they were close to hitting the ocean surface...and then the three spread their wings out to the sides, opening them up, and then they floated straight back up alongside their disbelieving father and their prouder-then-anything mother.

The three flapped their wings as hard as they could, the wind currents had helped them glide through the sky, then they glanced up at their parents as they seemed to await further instruction of what else to do.

They seemed to have a bit of trouble with keeping themselves flying, due to inexperience and to still learning.

Both adults Night fury and Light fury looked at their precious babies and then decided to demonstrate to them how to keep their wings beating calmly through the air, making it so their wings flapped simultaneously as to make it easier for them to follow their lead. Plus it would help them practice on how to glide and keep themselves flying for longer distances.

The baby Nightlight furies took well to this and flapped their wings in time with their mother and father.

Toothless glanced back momentarily to look at his own tail fins, checking to see if they were carrying the wind currents like his wings were in the best position to keep him airborne. He noticed that his artificial fin was fluttering upwards a bit, steering him to be a bit of an awkward angle. He readjusted his tail so both fins straightened out and cut through the air like a pair of butter knives through hot and melted butter, making sure he was flying easier.

He noticed that the whelps had seen this and copied his actions, making sure their own tails were keeping them afloat —the one female and two males chirped delightedly as they kept themselves focused on flying. They took their time in experimenting with how big or how little they needed to pitch their banking when it came to their wings, taking the time to learn how to work their wings to suit their individual needs and personalities.

He actually couldn't believe how quickly the whelps had taken to this.

The next thing they would have to learn was how to make themselves temporarily invisible by heating up their respective skins as they flew through their own plasma blasts, due to the Night fury and Light fury species having mirror-like scales that would help them blend into their surroundings whether it be night and or day.

Due to the whelp trio having the traits of both, it could possibly benefit them.

Toothless knew it would be rather difficult, though, as he could recall having some difficulty turning himself invisible in his own plasma blast and he could remember using some of the lightning surrounding him to pull this off...and it made him feel slightly weakened afterwards.

Toothless felt his heart swell in his chest with pride.

In response, he decided to put on a display of pride as he expanded his wings and made a two-second ascend. He flapped his wings hard and flipped himself in midair, laying on his back as he then whirled in the sky, he folded his wings against his back and started to fall back down. He plummeted down fast and hard until he put his wings back out and caught himself, gliding through the air alongside his family.

The babies raised their heads and trilled triumphantly.

Toothless and his mate looked at one another with naught but pride shimmering inside their eyes.

They were flying.

Their whelps were flying!

The baby Nightlight furies were flying on their own for the very first time!

It wasn't long until the group had found some more rocks to bask on, catching their breaths.

Toothless quickly realised that he and his family must have flown pretty far from the Hidden world and he felt his heart skip a beat or two when he saw a wooden boat sailing towards them.

He didn't hesitate to climb up to stand on all fours, his posture crouched defensively. He wasn't going to let any human hurt his mate and his whelps. The adult Night fury, his mate and the whelps all looked over the sharp rocks out of both caution and curiosity as their hypnotic gazes pierced through the thick fog and they tried to gauge whether this was friend or foe.

Stood at the front of the boat, the Night fury saw a scrawny human man whom sported a thick brown beard, had scruffy brown hair and wore a bearskin overcoat. Toothless blinked for a moment in near disbelief. This human bore a near striking resemblance to the man he had killed during his control by Drago Bludvist's Alpha...Stoick the vast, Hiccup's father.

Toothless sniffed the air and realised quickly that a familiar scent was coming from that boat.

This couldn't be.

Could it?

Toothless felt a few eyes on him and glanced down at his three-month old trio of whelps and their collective pairs of eyes were overflowing with fear and perplexity, clearly afraid of this new (and probable) threat but also not sure how to take it. He gave a purr of reassurance and looked over to his mate for a brief instance and nodded to her, signalling her to take care of the dragon fledgelings to which she nodded resolutely.

Ok, that was sorted.

The Male Night fury took another sniff of the air and realised Stormfly was nearby so he had backup.

So Toothless, feeling it was his solemn duty to investigate, took to the air once more and flew straight over towards the boat and landed hard on the bow of the boat, causing it to tip from side-to-side unsteadily on the water. He bore his teeth at him, not bothering to retract them into his gums until he was sure his suspicions were proven correct.

In spite of his fearsome presence, the human man showed no fear whatsoever.

"Hey..."

That voice...he recognised that voice.

Nevertheless Toothless kept scowling, he glanced around the man for a second and saw a familiar blonde woman whom was protectively holding two young human children close to her. He had to guess that this was a human family...but could this really be him?

"Hey there, bud."

The faintest hint of shock lit itself inside his eyes as realisation hit him like one of Odin's mighty thunderbolts. He could hear that soft, soothing kindness soaking the human's words and he sniffed curiously at the group of humans. It was only when the boat steadied after a few shaken moments that he climbed off the bow and strode towards the human whilst he remained crouched in front of him. His lime green eyes pierced the human's soul, and the human's eyes pierced his own soul right back.

This had to be him...this just had to be!

"Remember me?"

...Hiccup?

* * *

**A/N: SURPRISE! This is a surprise second chapter.**

**It takes place at the ending of HTTYD 3 and I thought, to make it fit with the title, I should see how I thought the first flight of Toothless and his girlfriend's babies. I hope you guys enjoyed it and I hope it brightens your day/night.**

**Don't forget to review and fave, guys.**

-**Chloemcg**


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